A recent trend in mobile communications has been to incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into mobile devices and other technology. In general, an NFC transaction may be initiated by bringing two NFC enabled devices into close proximity of one another. “Close proximity” can, for example, mean one or several centimeters, or shorter or longer distances, depending for example upon the purpose and nature of the NFC transaction and the NFC-enabled devices. The action of bringing such NFC-enabled devices into sufficiently close proximity may trigger activation of an NFC circuit, and/or an NFC communication, and/or may, discretely or in conjunction with an NFC transaction also trigger a Bluetooth or WiFi wireless connection.
Many people may opt for a cover or “holster” for their mobile computing device to protect the device and/or provide ready-access to the device and the applications provided thereby. A cover, for example, may be attached to a belt around the waist of the user, or may be attached to the outside of a bag, by way of non-limiting example, to allow easy access to the handheld computing device.
Typical components of a handheld computing device may include an output device, such as a display screen, an input device, such as a keypad, and a battery, to allow operation away from fixed power sources. Providing power to certain components, such as the display and input, when the handheld computing device is not in use may needlessly drains the battery. As such, many handheld computing devices are designed to sense the suspension of user activity on the handheld computing device. For example, a handheld computing device may detect the presence or other proximity of the afore-discussed device cover (such as, for example, a case or holster) in close proximity to the handheld device and, responsive to the sensing, may assume the handheld device is being placed in the cover, which may accordingly cause the handheld device to enter into a user-inactive mode. Entering the user-inactive mode may include one or more of disabling the display screen, disabling the input device, and in general entering a low-power state to conserve energy stored in the battery. However, it is possible that a device could inadvertently sense a magnetic field when the device is not being placed in a cover which could cause the device to enter an inactive mode while the device is in use, such as during an NFC communication.